


Should I Stay or Should I Go

by Barnesies



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - College/University, French Author Writing in English, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, No Underage Sex, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Iron Man Movies, Student Tony Stark, Teacher Lyle Carter, Teacher-Student Relationship, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Young Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:47:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24252319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barnesies/pseuds/Barnesies
Summary: The One where Tony Stark meets and fall in love with Steve Rogers' Son.
Relationships: Howard Stark/Maria Stark, Lyle Carter/Tony Stark, Past Lyle Carter/Ciara McKinney, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Tony Stark/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Should I Stay or Should I Go

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU NEED HELP TO UNDERSTAND THE STORY (*contain spoilers!*)
> 
> The story takes place in 1988, Tony is 18 and graduated from M.I.T. a few months prior.
> 
> Lyle Carter (Michael James Carter-Rogers) is Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers son. He is 41 but looks around 28, his aging slowed by the serum. He teaches History at New-York University, widower and father of a nine years old. He fought in Vietnam.

If his Dad knew what he had planned, he would go ballistic - no pun intended.

To be fair, his Mom would probably - read, most definitely - too. 

It would not be the first time Tony broke the Law but this was different. It could get him into some serious troubles and destroy all his chances to one day take the head of his father's business.

Not that it mattered much considering his old man was going to live to be a hundred and something and Tony would be retiring before Howard even started thinking about it.

He was determined.

His whole life had been about becoming the worthy heir to his father's legacy. Now he had sort of made it and there was no business for him to rule, also he was going to take some time for himself.

Do what he truly wanted.

And it started with him enrolling into one of NYU History classes for a semester.

Not that Tony had any particular interest in History, especially American History, but it was his best bet to get closer to his true goal.

Michael James Carter, or how he was going to be calling him for the next few months : Professor Carter.

Former sergeant in the US Army. Not that other people - normal people - knew about that.

But Tony remembered. Or well, the newspaper cutout in his pocket reminded him.

It was close to fifteen years old, yellowed, ink staining, blurring words and picture alike, although one could still distinguish three figures on the black and white photography.

Howard Stark standing on the far right, as regal as ever and looking straight at the journalist. Next to him, a four years old Tony, flashing a - rather rare - genuine smile to another man. A soldier kneeling in front of him as they shaked hands.

The caption read : The Succession is Assured!

Also Tony did not think of the family business watching it. He never does.

He thought of the young man that had put himself on his level, uncaring of what he may look like.

Like if Tony mattered and wasn’t just some new shiny accessory Howard had brought up with him that day.

He had cut it from his father's newspaper the next day and kept it in his nightstand for years. 

Tony would sometimes forget all about it, to better pull it back from the bottom of his drawer on particularly bad days.

He had no idea the unnamed soldier - which he actually knew to be Sergeant Michael Carter - was in fact his first crush.

It was 1974.

There were no such things as boy crushing on other boys. At least, not in Tony’s Golden World.

He saw him twice after that fateful day and ironically enough, the next had been the man's own wedding.

Ciara McKinney, a young irish girl from Brooklyn, had made a beautiful bride but Tony only had eyes for her fiancé.

Michael Carter was radiant. So different from the haunted man he had first met, right after the soldier came back from Vietnam.

He was eight and he would never forget those bright blue eyes nor the way Carter had smiled at him after kissing him on both cheeks like he was family.

Tony didn’t have a family. He had his mother.

Rory Carter didn’t.

It was a year later, the Starks received two letters : a birth announcement and a death one.

The next time Tony saw Michael Carter, it was at his wife's funeral. He remembered the lively brunette and did not understand how she could be dead. Giving birth to her son at that.

The new father looked like a ghost himself. The spark that had brightened his gaze only a few months ago was gone, as was his joyful smile. It was painful to watch.

Wheels turning inside his head, Tony wished he could do something. Anything to try and make things better for the man but he was Howard Stark’s heir. They were in a public setting. His father would kill him - well, not really but still - if he made anything even remotely resembling a scene.

So Tony was a good son and a good guest expressing his condolences to the unresponsive widower, keeping close to his parents.

At least until he saw an opening.

Carter stood alone in front of his wife's coffin. He had gotten rid of the cemetery employees. People were leaving the yard. Howard was having a ‘private conversation’ with Peggy Carter and Maria was on the phone - a StarkPhone, one of his father's minor inventions.

No one was paying attention to Tony. They were expecting him to stand still next to their car, where Jarvis could see him and to his credit, the butler did notice his actions. He followed him at a distance, as the boy stopped next to the widower.

Carter didn’t seem to mind though Tony could not be sure the man even realized he was there. He opened his mouth multiple times, not knowing what to say and when he did spoke, he felt more awkward than he had in years :

“Rory’s cute for a baby.” Tony winced slightly at the stupidity of his own words, proceeding to turn bright red when Carter's gaze finally fell on him. “I mean, babies are usually pretty ugly despite what people say but - I mean, yours is… not.”

The boy started reconsidering his whole life as his interlocutor arched a brow, clearly studying him. It felt like an eternity before Carter lips stretched into a slight smirk, quickly followed by an actual chuckle, some spark of life brightening his sad blue eyes. And Tony mimicked him a short moment later as the man laid a friendly hand on his shoulder :

“Thanks Tony.”

“You’re welcome, Sir.”

“Lyle. That’s what my friends call me.”, Carter corrected. Tony had repeated it, just because he could. He didn’t have any friends or at least no real ones and definitely none like Lyle.

Not that Tony saw much of him after that day but still. He cherished the memory.

He grew up. Went through puberty and the M.I.T. at once. He had a hard time. Not so much because of his courses but rather because of everything else. He wasn’t like his peers and no amount of money or intelligence could change that. 

Lyle Carter was his secret. The person he imagined next to him when things were really bad.

It wasn’t healthy. 

Tony had issues. Daddy issues, mostly. But he refused to talk to his mother’s shrink and had no one to confide in, so Lyle Carter's memory it was.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo should I keep going? Good question. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
